Sunday, September 28, 2014

Off the beaten path, Part 2

 The fungi and bugs seen along the paved path (see previous post) inspired me to do a little more wandering on campus.  I returned to a place under an outdoor stairway within the 600-complex of buildings where I have photographed the bright Orange Peel Fungus for the past several years.  This is the time of year when they usually emerge.  However, during the summer, the landscapers pulled all the weeds and put down a layer of wood chips, thus sanitizing the place.  No more Orange Peel, at least for now.  The area to the left of the stump, covered with pine needles and the aforementioned chips, is where the Orange Peel should be around now.  I'm confident they'll prevail - eventually.
 Small consolation, I did take a photo of what an artist might call "found objects" at the edge of the stump of an old Douglas-fir.  The scales from a Ponderosa Pine cone might be part of a kitchen midden, as a suirrel anthropologist might call it.  The yellow gum...well, no further comment.
 There were a few of these blue-purple flowers surviving the landscaping. 
 Heading back down the pave to the parking lot, I found another object of interest.  A perfectly good roller-ball pen.  Easy come, easy go, I guess.  I try to salvage usable things. 
 A nice whorl of leaves by the TRIO office.  I wonder if this will produce flowers before winter.
 As I approached the parking lot, I took my usual diversion by a 50-foot length of the creek that drains the large lawn above.  This little stretch of creek is still relatively wild and is a great  place to view White Alder, Corn Lilies, and Lemmon's Wild Ginger (above and below).  Below this stretch, the creek is tamed again as it flows under the main parking lot through a pipe.  I wonder if interesting things are happening along that length of pipe.
 My last "nature" photo before returning to my car was of a specimen of an emerging wildflower (below) known as Tigris woodsii.  Again, easy come, easy go, I suppose.  To me, it has the value of one cup of coffee.  I just need to find a barrister who plays golf.

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